Proposed 2025 Defense Budget Includes 14.5% Raise For Junior Troops
Update 12/26/2024: The President has signed the 2025 into law. As we have noted elsewhere, the House Armed Services Committee says the 2025 NDAA was passed in part thanks to a year-long effort by “the bipartisan Quality of Life panel, which focused on pay and compensation, housing, health care, childcare, and spousal support.”
In a press release issued by Whitehouse.gov, the president noted that his signature on the 2025 NDAA “authorizes fiscal year 2025 appropriations principally for Department of Defense programs and military construction, Department of Energy national security programs, Intelligence programs, and Department of State programs…”
The NDAA also provides a military pay increase (see bel0w) and other authorities relating to the U.S. Armed Forces; and provides authorities related to and makes other modifications to national security, foreign affairs, and other programs.”
The original article discussing these benefits is preserved below for archival purposes. The details in the article below don’t necessarily match what is in the final version of the 2025 NDAA.
Major Pay Increase for Junior Troops
One source, Military.com, reports a rare solidarity among lawmakers about quality of life enhancements for troops contained in the 2025 NDAA.
“The significant raise for the military’s most junior troops was one of several measures included in the final NDAA aimed at improving service member quality of life that had widespread bipartisan approval.”
But other measures included in the 2025 NDAA are not so agreed-upon, such as requirements that TRICARE limit or halt certain types of gender-affirming healthcare for. minors. That issue caused divides among lawmakers and may have contributed to the slow approval of the current version of the NDAA.
The Senate is expected to vote on the 2025 NDAA the week of December 16, 2024. This is a developing story. What follows is the original reporting on the act prior to House approval of it.
2025 NDAA Finalized
The House and Senate have finalized a version of the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act that includes a substantial pay raise for junior enlisted troops. If approved by both Houses and the Senate, the legislation would go to the President’s desk for signature and authorize $895 billion in national defense spending.
That spending would include a proposed 14.5% pay raise for junior troops, part of the Pentagon’s 2025 budget of $850 billion. Of that sum, $2 billion is earmarked specifically for military housing, childcare centers, and incentive pay for medical and childcare professionals.
These proposals exist as potential only at press time, as they have not been signed into law. There are no guarantees that these provisions will go to the president’s desk until the NDAA is formally voted on and approved in both the House and Senate.
The 2025 defense policy bill is expected to be voted on by the House and Senate by the end of December 2024.
Read next: Active Duty Military Benefits Guide
What to Know About the Proposed 2025 NDAA
Under previous versions of the 2025 NDAA, the House of Representatives recommended a 19.5% pay raise for junior enlisted personnel, while the Senate offered a 5.5% raise. The 19.5% pay increase was controversial because the written policy could have raised the pay for junior enlisted troops above that of their mid-level enlisted counterparts.
The final version of the NDAA up for a vote in the House and Senate includes the previously mentioned 14.5% pay raise for junior troops and a 4.5% pay raise for all others in uniform.
Multiple sources note that the funding for these pay increases has yet to be approved (at press time).
Other Details
After being approved by the House and Senate, the final version, which includes provisions for various military hardware and defense organization strategies, could be sent to the president’s desk.
Stripes.com reports, “Members of both parties found common ground on spending for the Navy, authorizing a second Virginia-class attack submarine after the service had asked for one and approving a third Arleigh Burke-class destroyer after the Navy had asked for two.”
Lawmakers also “signed off on the Air Force’s request to shift space-focused Air National Guardsmen into the Space Force despite opposition to the plan from all state governors and many National Guard officials.”
As mentioned above, the House and Senate will vote on the proposed 2025 NDAA in December 2025.
Read next: Active Duty Military Benefits Guide
About the author
Editor-in-Chief Joe Wallace is a 13-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a former reporter/editor for Air Force Television News and the Pentagon Channel. His freelance work includes contract work for Motorola, VALoans.com, and Credit Karma. He is co-founder of Dim Art House in Springfield, Illinois, and spends his non-writing time as an abstract painter, independent publisher, and occasional filmmaker.
